Movie: "XiangNu Xiaoxiao"
Genre: Drama
Directors: Xie Fei, Wu Lan
Starring: Na Ren Hua
Release Date: 1986 (China)
Awards: "Golden Panda" Award at the Montpellier Film Festival in France, etc
The movie "Xiangnu Xiaoxiao" is based on Shen Congwen's short story "Xiao Xiao", in the early years of the Republic of China, Xiao Xiao, a 12-year-old girl from a remote mountain village in western Hunan Province, married to Yang Jia'ao as a child bridesmaid, taking care of her little husband and his family like a big sister, and later Xiao Xiao grew into a young girl, and the family called Hua Dog's long-term worker was good, but the flower dog was afraid of clan punishment and abandoned the pregnant Xiao Xiao, fortunately, the in-laws were superstitious and kind, and took in Xiao Xiao's mother and son, and later, Xiao Xiao also married a big daughter-in-law to his son according to customs. Also like his mother-in-law, he is always waiting for a husband who can't come back.
This time watching the film adapted from the literary works has a new feeling, the university because of the need to read literary works, and did not perceive its deep "benefits", on the one hand, there are too many works that need to be read, the best of the best, the sensitivity declines, on the other hand, because of the need for examinations, the interpretation of the work is relatively fixed, in the teacher's explanation of the answer and it is too easy, their reading ability and life experience are very limited, can not read its taste. And now, I am beginning to perceive that "now I am full of sorrows, and I want to say goodbye." I wanted to say that I would like to rest, but I said that it was a cool autumn. ”
In order to solve some urgent problems that need to be solved, I had to open up other professional books and study for a long time, and then I felt that literary works were not as direct to people's hearts as philosophical theories, which could fundamentally change a person's way of thinking and understanding, and rapidly expand people's spiritual world. Nowadays, it seems that I have not found a really good literary work.
Why classic literary works are classic, that is, the author saw what most people in that era did not see, and it is still applicable many years later, so Chinese and Western philosophies have proposed that although human beings have experienced many years since their birth, there has been no major change in human nature. Now it is more realized that although any literary work is essentially an autobiography of the author, the real writer is recording the era, discussing human nature, and the topic of human nature transcends the limitations of the times and has no borders.
Back to the film itself, if the literary work itself is excellent, as long as it is not magically changed, then the adaptation has quality assurance. The portrayal of literary works is delicate and soulful, so it is very real in the movie, and the realism is very strong.
Judging from the background of the big story, Xiangxi culture has always had a mysterious veil, and the film soundtrack also makes people think of it, unconsciously thinking of puppet plays, and also thinking of Hu Jinquan's work "Empty Mountain Spiritual Rain". Xiangnu Xiaoxiao's living environment is very closed, using "a blank piece of paper" to describe Xiao Xiao is more appropriate, Xiao Xiao instinctively yearns to be as free and equal as a female student, but can not be separated from their own living environment, people in this living environment are despised by female students, spend a lot of money, exposing their arms and legs is offensive, only reading and singing to do some useless things. Therefore, Xiao Xiao could only succumb to reality and survive.
Her going to be a child bride and being abandoned by a long-term worker is not just a love tragedy, but many people have such a fate encounter, and their emotional choice is the choice of fate, which is a tragedy of fate. In particular, the so-called "love" between Xiao Xiao and the flower dog is that the flower dog is systematically seduced, the "silly girl" meets the "scumbag", and the little husband who guards her husband every day is too depressed, so she pushes the boat along the water. It's not so much that she can't choose her own destiny, but rather that she probably doesn't even have the concept of "choosing," at best driven by primitive desires.
Xiao Xiao's living environment is controlled by a bunch of men, on the surface they are moral and ethical defenders, in fact, they will also use the right to speak about women's physical appearance, origin, etc., vicious words, and even make people die, in fact, there is a suspicion of selfish desire. Xiao Xiao is not a complete person, the women here are like this, they have to be manipulated and molded, they have to have children to pass on from generation to generation, and even to be sold like goods. The story uses a dead loop to express depression, such as in the large structure, the two weddings of the child bride at the beginning and end of the film echo each other, Xiao Xiao enters the footsteps of her mother-in-law, and she is widowed every day.
The film seems to give people an illusion, as if Xiao Xiao may rebel against fate and succeed, but no, and finally falls into the cliché. Xiao Xiao's resistance is ineffective, that is, "running", escaping from the current environment, starting over, in fact, she never thought of really resisting, always counting on others to change her fate, such as flower dogs, Taoists, and incense ash.
This kind of resistance aroused people's hopes and fell hard, even if they returned to the original point, it was even more disappointing.